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Under Saturday’s setting sun, a south side Tucson basketball court will become a stage, and real-life stories of hardship will be transformed into a collective act of hope.

Borderlands Theater is debuting its new performance, "No Place Like Home," a free, one-night-only outdoor event that blends lived experience with a call for justice—offering not just catharsis, but community.

The production is not about telling stories of trauma; it’s about honoring the strength people show in surviving it and creating bonds with neighbors along the way. "No Place Like Home" aims to amplify voices of those who are often overlooked and provide them a space to find joy and hope.

The outdoor performance is a partnership between Borderlands and the city of Tucson's Violence Interruption and Vitalization Action initiative, or VIVA, through the Community Safety, Health and Wellness Program. The performance takes place in conjunction with the graduation of residents from a 9-month leadership training curriculum.

The documentary-style play will be shown at Ventura Villas Apartments (6200 S. Campbell Ave.) on Saturday. The event will kick off at 6 p.m. with a celebration including performances from youth mariachi bands Changuitos Feos and Estrella Juvenil, and the women-led musical group Las Azaleas, along with food, children’s activities and resource booths.

At 7:50 p.m., community members, including Mayor Regina Romero, will gather at the complex’s basketball court to watch it transform into a makeshift stage.

The performance was inspired by the One Nation One Project initiative, which centers the role of the arts as a vital tool for community wellness.

Borderlands and city officials took the idea a step further by focusing on Tucson neighborhoods grappling with issues like gun violence, poverty and housing insecurity. "No Place Like Home" is the latest installment in their growing collaboration.

The VIVA team set up interview sites around the community, inviting locals with firsthand experience living in public or subsidized housing to share their stories. VIVA and Borderlands hope that by using real stories, they can help shift public perceptions of safety and justice.

The testimonies can also inform violence prevention strategies, which officials say is vital, especially given that 1,087 assault-related crimes have been reported to the Tucson Police Department this year, not including those that go unreported.

"No Place Like Home" director Marc David Pinate collaborated with Tucson-based artists, including Logan Philips, Brooke LaFrance, Emmanual Uwayezu, Steve Waite, Diana Acosta, Raul Grijalva-Gomez, Adrian Perez and others.

“We're hoping that through the exchange of these stories, that these communities will come together, will build trust, will get to know each other a little bit more, and be able to accomplish their goals of improving their situation,” Pinate said in a promotional video for the play.

Pinate said "No Place Like Home" is shaped by the very people most impacted by the issues the play confronts, including Tucson's immigrant, refugee and working-class communities.

Tucson artist Natalie Brewster Nguyen, one of the project’s leads, said creating the play was a deeply collaborative process that involved listening to heartbreaking interviews and working together to transform those lived experiences into a script.

When the group sat down for their first read-through, Nguyen was anxious to see how the people interviewed would feel about their stories being told.

"There were a lot of tears. It was very intense, but people were really, really happy about it,” they told Tucson Spotlight. “I think there is something cathartic and even therapeutic about having your story told."

Nguyen said navigating these painful topics—including domestic violence, sexual assault, childhood abuse, addiction, eviction and homelessness—was challenging for those involved.

"These are extremely personal, often traumatic stories that people were sharing with us,” they said. “We are honoring the courage and bravery of these folks.”

Throughout the process, the artists were careful to stay true to each individual's voice and their resilience in overcoming great hardships, according to Nguyen.

"It's really hard for people to digest issues of structural inequality in a sort of dry, academic way,” they said. “Utilizing theater as a tool allows people to get inside the stories and understand how some of these issues really impact people.”

For the artists involved in the production, "No Place Like Home" is more than a performance, it's an invitation for political action.

“I think it's much easier to vote and organize with your heart,” Nguyen said. “It's a really effective tool for social change.”

The play emphasizes that housing insecurity is not just the result of personal failures or choices, but outcomes of systemic issues stemming from policy and poverty.

"This isn't an issue of personal responsibility, that's what I really want people to understand,” Nguyen said. “We have to understand that people are dealing with a very real, very stacked playing field, and it is very difficult once you end up in a place of sort of extreme poverty to recover from it."

The artists hope that their creative way of bringing these issues to light will inspire solutions for the city and help identify funding options without cutting costs.

Nguyen said they hope the performance will lead to more support for future housing initiatives and funding opportunities.

"I want people to really understand that this is a structural issue, but it's one that we can solve—but we have to really do it and put funding toward it,” they said. “We have to vote that direction, and we have to believe that this isn't an issue of personal responsibility.”

Despite the serious nature of the stories presented in the play, positivity remains a key theme. Nguyen and other organizers hope the event will inspire Tucsonans to vote, volunteer, support affordable housing—and maybe even leave with a song or two stuck in their heads.

For more information visit Borderlands’ website.

Angelina Maynes is a University of Arizona alum and reporter with Tucson Spotlight. Contact her at angelinamaynes@arizona.edu.

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